Juvenile vehicle



Jan. 3, 1928. 1,655,174

- C. W. WHITE JUVENILE VEHICLE Filed April 16. 192a I ICLARENCEWATSONWHITE H15 ATTORNEY Patented Jan. 3, 1928.

CLARENCE WATSON WHITE, OF NORTH BENNINGTON, VERMONT,

UNITED STATES- JUVENILE VEHICLE.

Application filed April 16, 1926.

My invention relates to improvements in juvenile vehicles, and moreparticularly to propulsion means for cart-s for small children, such asgo-carts, baby tenders and the like. I

An object of my invention is to provide propulsion means for carts forsmall children, which means with vchange of position may be employed foreither pushing the vehicle or for drawing the same after one in theusual manner of childrens vehicles.

Another object of my invention is to provide means whereby vehicle-s forsmall children may be pushed or drawn by a person other than the rider,said means being designed for guiding the vehicle with equal 'etliciencywhen being pulled as in pushing the same.

A further object of the present improvement is to provide a propellingand guiding device of the type referred to which is strong and durablein its operable connections and may be inexpensively manufactured foruse.

Other objects and applications to use will appear as the specificationdevelops, which it will not be necessary to describe further in thisconnection.

My present invention, generically described, comprises a tongue-likeattachment which is secured ,to a dirigible type of vehicle, either infront, as small wagons are drawn, or to the rear of the back bolster bymeans of a specially designed bracket or brackets to which the tonguemember is readily attachable and detachable. When attached the tongue isfirmly held in position and may be promptly and easily detached whencesired.

The bracket for operably attaching the push rod or tongue comprises, inthe pre ferred form shown, two projecting ears spaced apart at equaldistances from the central line of the bolster or other part of thevehicle to Which they are attached.

The tongue member has a T-bar firmly secured to its end, whoserespective right and left hand ends areforined to enter the ear-bracketreferred to, forming a hinged connection to permit the tongue member toswing vertically, but not otherwise, thereon.

The engaging ends of the T-bar, which are preferably flattened forreasons hereinafter explained more in detail, are shouldered to provideprojections of; reduced Serial No. 102,438.

widtlrto enter the eyes of the brackets or ear pieces, and speciallydesigned means may be employed to retain the ends therein more firmly inplace in all operable positions.

The means employed for readily applying or detaching the tongue membermay subsist in the forms of openings in the ear pieces, such as, forexample, horizontally disposed slots extending from the orificesoutwardly of one or both of the ear pieces through which the flattenedand shouldered ends of the T-bar of the tongue may freely pass.

In its simplest form the slotted eye of the supporting brackets. may becut through to the opening upon a line other than that at which thetongue would normally be held while the cart is being pushed or pulled,the tongue on being carried out of such introductory position beingthereafter held firmly in position by the rounded bear ings internallysupplied by the eyes of the bracket, as will hereinafter more fullyappear.

In the preferred form of my invention, however, I introduce additionalmechanism for holding the T-bar in place in all positions, whichcomprises a fiat spring member placed alongside of one or both of thebrackets, each spring member having a closed orifice corresponding toand in alignment with the eye of the bracket to which it pertains, theeye of the bracket being slotted. as aforesaid.

In the accompanying drawings, illustrative of a preferred form of myinvention,

Figure 1 is a sectional elevation upon the medial vertical plane of thevehicle with tongue member detached;

Fig. 2 is a partial sectional view on line 2--2 of Fig. 1, showing themanner of securing the tongue supporting brackets to a bolster of thevehicle, with tongue member attached; I

Fig. 3 is a partial sectional view similar to the preceding figure, withan end of the tongue crossbar shown in position for entering the eye ofthe bracket to the side of which a spring latch is shown;

Fig. i is a vertical section of a portion of a bolster showing amodified form of bracket thereon with tongue attachment in place forpropelling the vehicle.

5 is a horizontal partial section showing another modified form of myimprovement with a different form of tongue attachment in place therein;and

Fig. 6 is an isometric representation of the modification shown in 5with certain parts dissociated and others in moved positions.

The present improvements are described and illustrated in the drawingsin connection with childs vehicles 1, which are of the type nsed forvery small children and are variously I described as baby tenders,go-carts or otherwise, which have fixed wheels, usually at the rear, aswivelled or castor-mounted wheel or wheels at the front; and the formillustrated comprises a seat portion 2 similar to the flat seat featureof Letters Patent No. 1,220,038, granted me for childrens vchicles onMarch 20, 1917.

The seat board 2 is supported upon its respective front and rearbolsters 3 and 4 to which it is rigidly secured, thereby making theforward member stationary and not to turn. as in the usual wagonconstruction.

Upon the front and rear faces of the respective front and rear bolstersare attached by means of screws, nails or other convenient means, theangular brackets 5 and 10, which, in the preferred forni of myinvention, have in the right hand member thereof the open orifices 6 andsimilarly in the other bracketmember the closed orifice 11.

Obviously the brackets 5, 10 could be made of a single piece, the endsof which being bent to form those members. However, in

' practice it has been found more convenient and less expensive to makethe two-piece construction illustrated in the drawings, and attach themseparately.

Thebrackets 5 and 10 are therefore similar in form and placed upon thesame horizontal line at equal distances from the medial vertical linesof the respective bolsters to which they relate, being separated in theconnections shown, it having been found serviceable to place them fouror five inches one from the other.

In the preferred form now being considered the bracket 5 has thehorizontal slot 7 that opens the orifice to the front, the slot portionbeing medially disposed relatively to the orifice, and has adjacent toits outer face the flat spring catch 8 whichhas around orifice 9 ofsubstantially the same size as that of the bracket and inalignmenttherewith. The latch member 8 is formed preferably of flat spring steelto correspond to the angular shape of the bracket to which it pertainsand may operably be held in place by the same screws 18 which secure 7the bracket in place there-against.

The catch 8 has an extended end that is bent outwardly, as best shown inFig. 3, so as to permit the end of the cross-bar 17 to pass into theslot 7 while forcing aside the less than the. distance bet-weenbracket-s 5 and 10. Hence when one reduced or attachable end with across member or.70

T-bar that is rigidly and permanently joined at its middle section to.the end of the tongue member by welding, or in any convenient manner.

In the preferred forms illustrated, the T- bar 17 is of flat steelhaving at its respective ends the reduced or shouldered extensions 18 ofa width adapted freely to enter into and turn within the orifices 6 and11 of the respective brackets 5 and 10. c

The shoulders of the T-bar 1.7 which define the length and locations ofthe reduced ends 18 are spaced apart at a distance slightly L vi the eaiend of the tee is inserted into the orifice 11 of the bracket 10 theother end may be forced forward from the position indicated in F 3 pastthe latch 8 into the position shown in Fig. 2 where the latch is shownreturned sarily be lifted above the plane of this slotted opening andbring the bearing'portion of the end 18 of the T-bar of the tongueagainst the interior of the orifice of the bracket, which is madecorrespondingly strong totake'the thrusts incident to being pulledthereby. Accordingly .the function of the spring latch S is to preventthe tongue from becoming. inadvertently detached when not in use, andfor retaining the parts in operable position at all times, or until itis desired to detach the tongue, which may readily be done by pressingthe latch back by the thumb or otherwise and pressing the end of theTi'llill. outwardly while holding the ton I which the vehicle runs.

a The brackets 5, 1.0, itlias been seen, are intended for bothforward.-and;rear attachment to the vehicle, to accomplish which theseangle pieces, similar in form and arrangement, are attached to therearward surface of the rear bolster. V I

It is thus providedthat the tongue may at pleasure be detached from itsconnective bearings at the forward end of the tender and in the samemanner as before made to function as a pusher, the person driving thedevice walking in the rear.

By virtue of the. T-bar feature of the tongue member, it will, readilybe seen that guc parallel with the surface over M5 the tongue, whetherpulling or pushing the vehicle, forms a strong and etficient means forguiding the vehicle to the right or left. The element of strength andrigidity, it will be readily understood, is especially important in viewof the fact that the vehicle for which the pusher tongue is designed maycarry a relatively heavy load to he guided at times over whateverirregularities and obstructions may be encountered.

The slot '7 may obviously be changed in location and also in form,without departing from the essence of my invention. Thus, in F t theangle of the slot has been modified so that its forward trend isslightly downward, therefore .when the tongue is lying close to thesurface upon which the vehicle stands, the end 18 of the T-bar 1'? willstill be engaged by the forward side of the orifice 11. In this form ofconstruction obviously there will be no need of additional retainingmeans, such as the spring latch 8 that has hereinabove been described inmore or less detail. In attaching the tongue member 15 through adepending slot of the general type, the vehicle may require very slightelevating at the end to which it is desired to apply-the tongue memherwhile making the connection.

Another permissible modification is shown in 5 and 6, in which avertically disposed slot 12 is formed at the top of the orifice 11requiring the end 18 of the T-bar 17' to be held vertically while beinginserted through. the top of the bracket. Here it will be seen thatwhile, in all other positions excepting the vertical one, the bracket 1Owill retain the tongue in operable condition; yet to enable the deviceto be lifted up at its forward end by means of the tongue, provisionmust be made to prevent the T-bar be ing lifted out of its socket.

In view of the fact, therefore, that it is often found necessary to liftthat portion of the vehicle bodily upward to mount an obstacle orotherwise elevate the front of the vehicle, I have provided a slidingmember 20 that has upon one or both sides of the T-bar to which it isattached, a semi-circular projecting member 21 adapted to enter and tillthe space of the orifice 11*. The slides 20 may be pressed into positionor readily withdrawn by means of the thumb piece 22 that projectslaterally from the end of the slide 20 opposite that upon which theextension or filler piece 21 is supported.

I claim:

1. In a dirigible vehicle for small children. a detachable pusher-tonguehaving a handle and a T-bar with flat ends, supporting means on saidvehicle for said pushertongue comprising brackets having orificesadapted to receive said T-bar ends for rota tion therein, one of saidbrackets having a slotted opening into the orifice thereof adapted toreceive flatwise an end of said T-bar, and a spring catch alongside ofthe slotted bracket with an orifice in alignment with the orifice in thesaid bracket to also receive said end of the T-bar.

2. In a dirigible vehicle for small children, a manual pushing andguiding means comprising a tongue device having a cross bar and means onthe vehicle comprising orificed brackets spaced apart, one being alsoslotted, in combination with means for securing said cross bar in saidbrackets so as to permit of vertically-hinged motion but relativelyimmobile as to the said vehicle, said means consisting of aflat orificedspring catch adjacent to the slotted bracket.

3. In a vehicle for children. the combination with the vehicle body, ofa detachable handle having a T-bar with flat ends, brackets on thevehicle body having round openings to receive said T-bar ends, onebracket having also a slot entering its round opening, and a springcatch alongside said slotted bracket, said catch having a round open ingaligned with the opening in the said bracket to also receive one end ofthe T-bar.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

CLARENCE WATSON WHITE,

